The recycling (reuse) of polymers, particularly waste thermoplastics, is an important environmental objective. One major problem in recycling such materials is the need to separate different types of polymers from each other, since polymer mixtures do not lend themselves to recycling as well as relatively pure polymers. Various schemes have been tried for such separations, but none have been satisfactory from the point of view of cost and/or purity of the resultant polymers. Therefore improved methods to separate (waste) polymers are desired.
Japanese Patent Application 54-3172 describes a method for separating polymers by using liquids of various specific gravities to separate granular solid polymers. No mention is made of separating molten polymers in high gravity fields.